That's an order (on the smutty side)
by So Everybody Dance
Summary: Three years after an acrimonious break up Molly Dawes stumbles across Captain James in Kabul. Will they get together again or will it be fireworks! This version of the story contains M rated chapters that are a bit too smutty to be added to the main story - (Chapter 9).
1. Chapter Nine: That's an Order

A/N _This chapter is part of the FF Our Girl story_ **That's an Order** _(chapter 9). This chapter is over here because the characters have got a bit naughty recently and it had to be rated for adult content! If you are looking for chapters 1-8, they are on the main page of the Our Girl FF site. Sorry for any confusion, I hope you enjoy it._

"So Bas, when did they let you out of the gym? You look like you've been locked up there for the last few years."

Bas squinted at Fingers in the late afternoon sun. "Nah, I run a boot camp in London, Fingers, mate. I get to spend a lot of time demonstrating press ups to wealthy women."

"Loaded are they? Fit as well?" Dangles lay back in the sand and took a swallow from his can of lager.

"They can't be fit," said Molly flexing her aching shoulders. "That's what they've come to old Bas for."

"Dangles, lots of them get very fit, and some of them are up for it too?"

"Up for it?" Dangles sat up. "Whoa… Are you getting some cougar action Bas?"

"Too fucking right I am. I run a twelve-week course. That's a new group every 12 weeks and…" he puffed out his chest in evident pride. "They love their teacher Bas to whip them up into shape."

"Following in Kinder's cougar footsteps are you Baz?"

Kinders groaned: "All right boys, I hold my hands up. But what can I say? She's a great lady."

"Ha ha!" shouted Dangleberries joyfully. "Watch our man squirm. You keep an eye out for that shotgun, Kinders, my mate."

"What?" Molly looked confused: "I thought you'd just had a baby Kinders?"

"He has," said Dangles. "With Fingers' older sister! They met at the last two section reunion. And Fingers is mad as hell cos they ain't got hitched yet."

Fingers looked mournfully into his can: "He pissed in my coco pops."

Kinders turned to the Bossman sitting next to him and said in an undertone: "You see Boss, you're not the only one who screwed up."

Kinders raised his voice to address everyone: "Listen fellers, I keep getting down on my knees for her, but so far she's turned me down. There's nothing I want more than to make an honest woman out of her. One of these days she'll say yes."

"Not if I have anything to do with it," said Fingers in a playfully menacing tone to a chorus of jeers.

Charles smiled. There were many things around here, that were not as they seemed. He was certainly learning a lot today. He glanced over at Molly, lying contended in the sand and felt the muscles in his stomach tighten. She was wearing a tiny pair of shorts and a bikini top and her windswept, chestnut hair was tangled over her shoulders. In Kabul, when he'd looked at her, he'd been consumed by anger. Now freed from that resentment he found her breathtaking. It was hard to look away.

He watched her stretching her arms and saw her wince. She looked tired. He wanted to go over, pull her to her feet and take her for a long walk along the beach, to talk it all over and make it right again, but he knew the last night of this reunion wasn't the moment to sort this problem out.

It was going to take time to resolve and knowing Molly, it wouldn't be easy. She would be defensive for starters. She would also be pissed off with Qaseem and Kinders for confiding in him, better Kinders wasn't anywhere nearby.

But most of all, he didn't want to give the boys any reason to suspect there was something going on between them. If they did they'd be unmerciful in taking the piss out of her. Being a female in the army was tough enough already. She'd worked hard to earn respect from these boys and she wouldn't appreciate jeopardising that now.

No, it was better to wait, visit her in Bristol and thrash it out quietly between the two of them. That's if she even wanted to sort it out. What if she didn't? He quashed away the nugget of doubt, refusing to think about that possibility and focused on the somewhat ribald conversation his former men were having.

Dangles was returning to the subject of Bas Vegas' new job: "Bas, I bet your boot camp cougars are old though."

"That's where you'd be wrong. Of course there's a few horn-meisters and some mingers, but most are bangable. One course we run is for new mums. They run around with their babies in prams. They're not old."

Molly groaned and lay down in the sand. Not this again. Just sometimes she'd like to tell them to remember she was also a girl and to shut their cakeholes.

"New mums, eh? I could fancy a bit of MILF action!"

"We're looking for another trainer, Dangles. Why don't you come and try it out with me?"

"Seriously Bas? Gotta be better than hanging around in Aston"

" _Coo coo ca-choo Mrs Robinson_ " sang Nude Nut mischievously, " _Dangles is off to London to become a cub_ "

Dangles tossed an empty can in Nude-Nut's direction: "Oi! Shut the hell up, Nude-Nut."

Two more cans sailed through the air back to Dangles.

Dodging the cans, Fingers turned to Brains. "What's it like working for UNICEF then?"

"Working for children seems like a really well, worthy thing to do, but it's more stressful than you'd think. There's a culture of working really hard in UNICEF. Don't work for them if you want a personal life."

"Do you see the Bossman a lot?"

"Charles? He travels a lot of the time, and when he's in Geneva, we all work really long hours. But the good thing is that everyone from the team is an expat, so we spend a lot of time outside work together too. Drinking, having fun, skiing in the winter. It's a really sociable job. I love that side of it."

"Boss not hitched again then?"

"Dunno where he would find the time for a relationship, to be honest."

"Weren't you with him in Kabul when he got locked in one of the ministries after an explosion?"

"Nah. That was Dawsey."

"Dawsey?" Fingers turned to look accusingly at her. "You never told me you were in Kabul. What, were you posted there?"

"I never tell anyone when I go to Kabul mate. I go to visit Bashera and her family has already tried to kidnap her twice, so I go in disguise."

"Disguise? What, as the back end of a pantomime horse?"

There was a general snort of laughter as they tried to imagine her in that position.

"Nah, Mansfield. "Don't be funny. I wear a _niqab or a burka_ , and no one, not even you Fingers, would be able to suss me out."

"What, dressed as an Afghan laydee? You're a sly one, Dawsey," admired Fingers. "But you'd have no chance against me. I'm trained to see through a _Burka_ disguise."

"I bet you didn't pull a fast one on the Bossman, Molly?"

"Actually, she did pull the wool over my eyes, Dangles, I'm ashamed to say. It was only when the bomb went off that she came clean."

Was there something like admiration in Charles' eyes as he winked at Molly?

"Who was guarding you Boss?"

"That's an interesting question, Fingers. I never did get to find out because as soon as the bomb exploded, he disappeared."

"Fuck me, what are they playing at in Kabul? Next time, you, Molly or any of you come my way, give me a call. I'll sort you out with a top notch security team."

"That's a very interesting offer, Fingers." I'm going back in November. Let's discuss it."

"Uh, come again, Molly. _You_ were dressed in a _burka_ in Kabul, with the Bossman and a bomb went off," Bas Vegas was working up a mock outrage. "What the fuck? You never told us anything."

"There's nothing to tell, Bas. We were in a ministry when a bomb went off in the street outside. We waited out in a guardroom, until they got us out. I didn't even see the explosion."

She took a deep breath, remembering the tension, anger, and passion that exploded between her and the Bossman. "It was quite boring really."

She sneaked a glance at Charles. He was looking disbelievingly at her, his eyebrows raised, a slight curve of amusement playing about his mouth at her description of their tense time together in Kabul as ' _boring_ _'_. She blushed slightly and then shrugged her shoulders.

"That's not what I heard," said Brains. "Wasn't there an escape with fighting cocks in a rickshaw?"

"Ay ay lads! Cocks in a rickshaw? What have you two been up to! C'mon, fess up to Uncle Dangles."

Molly squirmed. Everyone turned to the Bossman who smiled and gestured to Dawes: "I was concealed in the back of the rickshaw. It was Dawes in disguise who was the heroic bird handler. She'd be much better at explaining."

"Cock handler?"

"No Dangles. Fighting cocks, birds, hens. You know."

"No Molly, I don't. In fact I don't know any of it, because you haven't told me. So what's all this about an escape in a rickshaw?"

"Well, yeah, the escape… that bit was exciting, although they don't go fast, those little things. I dunno, seems a long time ago now. Anyway, isn't it time we got a move on? She looked over at Brains' watch. It's six already. Haven't we booked a table somewhere tonight?

She held her breath. There were a general murmur of agreement and Kinders stood up and shook the sand out of his sweatshirt.

Bas Vegas turned to Fingers: "Oi can I come and have a shower in your room mate?

"Great! I knew it! As soon as I heard you three twats were staying in tents, I knew you'd be up mewling at my door for a clean up."

Bas did an exaggerated wriggle. "Come on Fingers, feels like I've got two days worth of sand up my arse."

Fingers laughed as he got up. "Charming! Well, you better come on up then, can't have you minging in Newport tomorrow."

Dangleberries whooped: "Now, that's a plan, Bas. Can I get behind you in the queue?"

"As long as you're not behind me in the shower, you perv!"

"Oi Bas, none of that abuse here, thanks," said Kinders giving Bas a tough look.

"Sorry, Kinders." Bas Vegas spoke in a low tone.

"Don't apologise to me mate." Kinders glared at Bas. There was a awkward silence as he turned to watch Fingers trudging towards the cliff path.

* * *

Half an hour after leaving the beach, Molly knocked on the Bossman's door.

He opened it and there was a moment of embarrassment when she realised he was wearing nothing but a sarong wrapped low around his hips.

"Oh, Boss, I'm sorry to disturb you. I'll come back later".

"What is it Molly?"

"I've just come for my watch."

"Come in. I'll get it." He opened the door wider, and after a moment's hesitation she stepped inside.

He picked her watch off a table and came back to stand in front of her, the strap dangling between his long fingers.

She held out her hand: "Thank you for looking after it"

But instead of giving it back to her, he stood, quietly reading down at the inscription on the back.

"What is it?"

He looked back at her, opened his mouth to speak and closed it again, as if unsure of what to say.

"Boss?"

"Dawes, I don't know what I want from you, but I know what I need right now. I need to feel you in my arms."

She stared at him in shock: "But what about your... girl?" She blurted it out, wanting to kick herself even before she'd completed the sentence.

He frowned: "What girl?"

It was too late to take it back. She'd have to struggle on. "The one in the photo. With the star-shaped specs."

Comprehension dawned across his face: "She's not my girl. She works for me, she's a member of my team."

"And," he added as an afterthought. "She's having a fling with someone else in the office."

"Oh." Feeling stupid, she added: "That must be complicated."

She kept her eyes down on the floor, wishing she'd kept her bollocking mouth shut.

Finally she looked up. He was smiling at her.

A bolt of desire swelled in her belly. She tried to damp it down, tell herself that it would be madness, that she'd regret it, but her body seemed incapable of responding to anything but Charles standing in front of her. He opened his arms and she walked straight into them, like a sleepwalker embracing a long, lost dream.

The feel of his arms pressing her into his long, lean body set off a dizzying clutch of fireworks. She'd been craving the feel of him since he'd helped her on the rock this morning, even since he'd kissed her in Kabul, since forever, it seemed. For a moment she rested her head on his chest, drinking him all in, rejoicing in the remembered scent of his body, revelling in the smooth bareness of his taut chest, aware of his uneven breaths, the erratic beat of his heart, thumping wildly under her ear, that matched the unsteady, joyous lurches of her own heart.

She turned her face up to his and his mouth swooped down on hers. His lips were like a drug, as he reclaimed hers, igniting passion and tension between them while his hands ranged over her body, exploring, rediscovering, delighting in her petite loveliness.

With just a thin, cotton sarong slung round his hips, Molly suddenly became aware of the effect her closeness was having on his body. She teased him, brushing her hip against his hardening cock, causing him to groan with pleasure.

"Christ, don't tempt me like that." He exhaled heavily and his shoulders trembled. "For God's sake."

Charles was fast losing control. If he didn't move her away from him damn quick, he'd be lost before they'd even started. With determination he lifted her away from him and then turned round and leant against the door.

She was standing where he'd put her down, in the middle of the room, looking confused and caught in an overwhelming moment of desire. Her T Shirt had rucked up somehow under her arms, the outline of her nipples clearly visible underneath its thin cotton. Her French plait had loosened and was tangled, her lips were pinkish and swollen and her pupils enlarged with passion. There was no doubting he was having an equally devastating effect on her.

That knowledge gave him all the confidence he needed. Without taking his eyes off her he flicked the lock of the door behind him.

Then he smiled slowly: "Take off your clothes."

Her eyes widened.

"And Dawes..." He paused to allow his words to have full effect.

"That's an order."

* * *

 _A/N For obvious reasons, chapter 10 will also be over here on the smutty side..._


	2. Chapter Ten: A Rediscovery

A/N _This chapter is part of the FF Our Girl story_ **That's an Order** _(chapter 10). This chapter is over here because the characters have got a bit naughty recently and it had to be rated for adult content! If you are looking for chapters 1-8, they are on the main page of the Our Girl FF site. Sorry for any confusion, I hope you enjoy it._

* * *

Charles couldn't quite believe he'd just ordered Molly to strip. Just an hour ago he'd made up his mind not to think about a future with Molly until after the reunion. He'd headed back to his room for a cold shower, determined to stay away from her. Then she'd appeared in his doorway in a little pair of sexy jeans and a white T Shirt, strands of damp hair curling around her shoulders and his firm resolve had flown out of the window. He'd looked down at her stolen watch and all he could think of as he reread her Nan's crazy inscription was, this is the time to love. Christ! He should stop it now before it went too far.

He watched Molly lift her T Shirt over her head and then hesitate, suddenly looking shy.

He was dimly conscious he shouldn't be playing this particular game. In the past, as her CO, he'd legitimately given her many orders, which she'd unquestionably obeyed. And as a result there had always been something uneven between them that lingered on in their relationship even after he'd resigned from the army. He'd always felt uncomfortable about that dynamic so why was he reviving it now?

She turned around, towards the window and lifted the T Shirt over her head, revealing a lacy, white bra.

He struggled to stop himself from taking it any further and found he couldn't:

"Now your bra."

She stretched her hands round her back to unclip it and it fell unwanted to the floor.

She still had her back to him, but it didn't matter. Charles could see her reflected in the full-length mirror on the wall. She wasn't aware of it. She was looking at the floor. He guessed from the saucy, secret smile that played around her mouth that she was enjoying their game. He looked at her breasts, swollen just as he remembered and knowing how much she liked it, he longed to capture a nipple in his mouth.

Glancing up she found his reflection watching her intensely in the mirror and she decided it was her turn to play with him. Slowly she unzipped her jeans, sliding them bit by bit over her legs. He watched her step out of them, slowly, oh so agonisingly slowly and felt himself tighten again as she turned round to face him wearing just a thin scrap of white lace.

He drank in the exquisite sight as she stood watching him. There was something joyful about her, some veiled sentiment reflected in her eyes that he couldn't quite fathom and for a time they gazed at each other as if overwhelmed by the enormity of it all.

A shaft of late afternoon sun bathed her body in a golden light and he whistled softly. She was unbelievable, more beautiful than he remembered, somehow. Her body had changed. In the intervening years she had lost some of her youthful curves and now she was taught and athletic. She was supremely fit and he found that incredibly erotic.

There was a knock at the door. Brains called out: "Are you there, Charles?"

Charles didn't answer, his eyes still on Molly's. She remained silent, complicit in desire.

Brains spoke again, "We're walking down to a pub on the coastal path called _The White Hart_ if you want to join us."

Another door opened in the corridor and Kinders spoke into the silence: "Are you looking for the Boss? I can't find Molly either. She's not in her room but she can't be far; I rang her phone outside her door and I heard it ringing inside."

"If they're both missing maybe they're together somewhere." Brains' voice was thoughtful. "Come on. Let's text them on the way and hope they've either gone ahead or will turn up later."

Molly listened to their footsteps fade into silence. Doubt began to form: "Bossman, I don't think…" she whispered.

"No," he broke in: "Don't think. Don't talk. Don't complicate things. Don't spoil it by dredging up the past or troubling about the future. Let's just enjoy these glorious moments together." He put his hands on her shoulders and brushed his mouth against her neck, his tongue finding the sensitive spots he knew she loved him touching. "And don't stop undressing either," he whispered, his lips tickling the soft skin behind her ear. "I need to see you naked, beautiful, just the way I remember you."

She felt his stiff cock pressing behind her and she longed to pull the sarong away and brush herself against him. But he caught her first, his fingers dropping to her hips and sliding beneath her pants.

She gasped as he found her opening and slid a long finger inside her. He whispered in her ear: "So wet for me Dawes?" His tone was challenging, but she could tell he was smiling.

"Well what do you expect if you come to the door wearing nothing but a sarong" She paused and added coquettishly: "Sir?"

She felt him laugh, a warm breath on her neck and then he turned his attention to her ear, lightly nibbling the lobe while his finger stirred inside her.

It was almost too much to take. She couldn't stop herself moving her hips, gliding against his hand. It was a relief when his thumb found her clit and started a slow circling.

The pleasure was becoming unbearable. She arched against him: "Oh God, don't stop, don't stop!" she demanded. Reaching behind, her fingers found his sarong and pulled it away, desperate to feel the length of his cock against her skin. He growled with pleasure as she brushed her hip against it.

"Now, now, I need you inside me now," she begged as she tugged off her knickers and brazenly slid his stiff cock between her damp thighs.

But Charles had no intention of giving her that satisfaction… yet. He wanted to savour her slowly, watch her ecstasy build as he brought her to ever, greater pleasures. If he didn't, he'd be lost within her in seconds. Agonisingly, he managed to pull away from her and turned her around so he could see her properly.

Her eyelids fluttered open as she felt him move away. "What? Oh God, don't, please."

"Dawes, I'm going to make you wait out." His voice was teasing, as he dropped a light feather of kisses on the ridge of her collarbone. "It's been too long. I need to discover you again." He knelt in front of her, sweeping his tongue over her breast. It was so achingly close to her nipple that she moaned when he deliberately avoided it.

"I want to explore every inch of your delicious body." At last he took her nipple lightly between his teeth, circling it with his tongue before moving downwards to feather more kisses over the slight swell of her stomach.

Molly could barely stand. Her legs were trembling and she steadied herself the only way she knew how, weaving her fingers through the kinks in his hair.

For long, restless moments he just slid his fingers up and down her legs. He teased her again, arching his tongue on the soft skin of her trembling thighs, leaving an aching, damp trail. His mouth was so tantalisingly close that she could feel his breath warm her. She moaned with delight and anticipation as he kissed her at the edge of her lips and feathered a tongue down, between them.

Reaching to grasp her buttocks he drew her into his mouth. She arched her back as small darts of pleasure rippled through her and moaned again as he found her tiny, exquisite centre. His cock stiffened as he made the sweet discovery, first circling with his tongue, then sucking her softly. She was utterly delectable, just as he remembered.

He trailed his tongue downwards and nudged it inside her. Moments later, he returned to her clit for a few delicious seconds and then trailed down again, initiating an agonising rhythm that was driving her wild. "I can't bear it," thought Molly, gripping his hair, as she came into his mouth, crying out at the intense pleasure that crashed over her. He continued to devour her, extending the exquisite moment until she couldn't take any more. She was still shaking with the intensity of it as he lifted her onto his bed and lay down on top of her.

Her eyes were still closed in intense rapture when she felt his cock nudging between her thighs so she lifted her hips to invite him in.

"Molly… Molly," he whispered her name and she opened her eyes to find him watching her. She smiled back at him, mesmerised by his beauty. His eyes never left hers as he slid his cock slowly into her. She'd forgotten how large he was and how satisfyingly he filled her.

"Is it okay?" he whispered pulling a stray strand of hair from her face.

She found it difficult to speak: "Beautiful. I'd forgotten how amazing."

His mouth curved in a jubilant smile and he leaned down to capture a nipple in his mouth as he began to move languidly inside her. They were small strokes at first, but as the intensity built between them he began to glide longer along her length, leaving her half empty, then filling her up again.

With an effort he withdrew completely, teasing her with the very tip of his cock and watching her moan in pleasure. As he drove his whole length back into her she clenched her muscles tightly around him and he groaned in turn, almost losing himself in the tempting joy of her tightness.

He moved more urgently now and she grasped his hips and pulled him tightly towards her. He was losing control as he ground himself harder and deeper into her.

Fuck, it was good between them. He'd forgotten just how good.

She squeezed again and suddenly he exploded inside her, breathing out her name, over and over. He was lost in a pleasure so intense he only just became aware of her gliding under him. Through another wave of passion he realised she was on the point of ecstasy. To help her, he stroked his thumb over her clit, and she shuddered into another sweet, exquisite orgasm.

Afterwards they lay ecstatic, exhausted in each other's arms. There were no words. He was right. No questions, explanations or declarations could have made this moment better. There was just the two of them, stretching languorously, rediscovering their bodies, as they came down from shared rapture.

His phone buzzed to life with a message. He pulled his arm from underneath her and rolled over to look at it. "It's Kinders. He wants to know where we are." He tapped a return message and sent it, and as an afterthought, read it aloud.

"Molly's with me. See you later, maybe."

"Well, they're going to have a bleeding field day with that message for sure."

He felt an irrational burst of anger that she still wanted to deny him, when all he wanted to do was tell everyone how much he wanted her. He said moodily: "I don't care what they think. Let them gossip. I'm no longer your boss, why are you so afraid?"

She recoiled from his sharp response. Their fragile rapport was broken. He'd ruptured it. Now more angry with himself, he left the bed and stalked towards the bathroom. "I'm sick of worrying about what superior officers, lovesick privates and interfering mothers might think about us" he shot back, unable to control his anger.

She wrapped a towel round herself and followed him to the bathroom door. "What do you mean, 'interfering mothers'?"

He had his back to her. "Nothing."

"But, hang on a minute, whose…?"

"No-one," he interrupted harshly. "I don't want to talk about it. I told you it was better if we didn't speak."

He looked up at her in the mirror and saw he was hurting her. Somehow he managed to reign in his fury and came over to drop a kiss on the top of her unwilling head.

"Molly, I liked what just happened between us. It felt bloody amazing. I don't want to spoil it by arguing with you. And every time we talk we always seem to argue. So let's not talk. If the idea of people talking about us bothers you then go and have a shower and meet me downstairs in 15 minutes. Then we'll walk down to this pub as friends and silence any wagging tongues. "

She was still searching for an answer, but he had no intention of blowing it all open now. He turned on the shower and stepped underneath it to show that as far as he was concerned the subject was closed.

"Piss off Dawsey," he added, with a grin. "Or I'll have to make love to you again, and it was so fucking fantastic just now I don't think I could get it up straight away."

* * *

 _A/n Thank you to everyone who has followed That's an Order over to the smutty side and continued with the story. Your comments, likes and favourites are always such a joy to receive and really helpful to read again when I am struggling over the next chapter!_


	3. Chapter 14: A lazy afternoon in Bristol

Molly sat cross-legged on a bed in the swanky Hotel Bristol trying to not to smile. She was supposed to be finishing an email to Qaseem but watching an indignant Charles wear out the hotel room carpet, phone in hand, trying to book another flight and reschedule a meeting was shed loads more entertaining.

"What? Yes, I'll hold."

He jabbed at the speaker and muzak outraged the tense silence.

"Christ!" he fumed glaring out of the window at the sun bleached city of Bristol below. "How the fuck am I supposed to get anything changed when Cecile's jacking off?"

Molly suppressed a laugh: "What's jacking off? It sounds obscene!"

Charles whirled round: "Jacking off? It means pulling a sickie."

Molly took a sip of the white wine they'd ordered and giggled. "Hmm, a bit of slang I've never heard of! It must have come from some upper class perve."

Charles snorted: "Our school master used to tell us we were jack-offs if we didn't turn up to class."

"Well there you go then. Public school. No wonder I haven't heard it."

He grinned, his anger temporarily forgotten: "You might be the Cockney queen of rhyming slang but I can teach you plenty about public school profanity!"

She was just about to reply when the muzak ended and Brains spoke. "Charles? Cecile's not here. It looks like she's left for the day. "

"Aren't you scheduled to be on a plane right now?" Brains wondered aloud.

Molly was sure she could detect a trace of amusement in her mate's voice.

"I've rebooked for tomorrow's red eye."

There was a silence and then Brains asked just a shade too innocently: "Something delay you at the airport Boss?"

"I've got some last minute family business to deal with," Charles shot back.

"Family? Ah I see."

Charles frowned at Brains' ironic tone. Molly tried hard not to giggle. He had balls that Brains, and plenty of them.

At Charles' silence Brains spoke up again: "Then how can I help you Boss?" He was obviously struggling not to snigger.

"I need to reschedule a 10 o clock with Kate. She's on leave today. Can you let her know when she comes in tomorrow please?"

"Right boss. Anything else?" His voice was almost back to normal.

"Yes. Stop bloody sniggering and email me the latest draft of the Burundi plan please?"

"Sure..." It was obvious from his strangled tone that Brains had lost it completely. "I'll do that right...," another snort "now."

"Thanks. Tomorrow Brains." Charles hung up before Brains could make any more sly comments.

"What the hell is up with him?" Charles wondered as he came over to sit on the bed.

Molly's phone beeped. She looked down at a new message. _'Enjoy... Brains x'._ She showed Charles the message and told him about their call.

"Well, you can bloody text him back to tell him we intend to enjoy ourselves," he answered as he took a sip from her glass and leaned over to kiss her. She tasted wine on his lips.

"But first, let's talk."

Molly felt instantly troubled, gripped with a sense of unease. She dreaded the idea of having to rake over the past.

Charles settled next to her on the bed and pulled his T Shirt off. "Even with the window open it's as hot as hell in here." He filled up her glass. "Christ we're going to need a few drinks to get us through this." He held the glass to her lips for her to take a sip and then drained the remainder.

"Right Dawes." He was getting down to business: "I've heard all sorts of stuff about you from Candy, Kinders and Qaseem. Now I want to hear it from _you_ – the person who should have told me in the first place.

"Qaseem? Bleeding hell!"

"Why are you upset?" he asked softly as he refilled her glass. "If he'd never told me, we wouldn't be sitting here."

"Point taken," she conceded. "But that means you already knew at Bosherston. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted to hear it from you," he said quietly, "So why didn't you tell me?"

Oh God, it was going to be difficult. "Originally, because I was afraid. I believed Candy when she said she'd humiliate us and destroy our careers. She was bloody wrong and it wasn't fair, and of course I didn't want an investigation. But it was also the year of hell for you. You'd got divorced, left the army and had been badly wounded. How much more could anyone take?"

"Being abandoned by their girlfriend, apparently," he observed acidly.

Molly faltered. The calm logic of his reply spoken without any emotion was devastating. "I'm sorry. I know what I did was wrong. It seemed the right thing to do at the time." She looked down at her hands and saw Smurf's ring gleaming in the sunlight: "I made a bloody mistake. I've never regretted anything else so much ever since."

Charles followed the direction of her gaze and frowned. That bloody ring seemed to gloat at him. Why the hell didn't she take it off? Trying to contain his anger was going to be a lot harder than he'd realised: "Maybe you had a reason? I don't know. I don't want to bloody well argue about it. I want to sort it out. It matters to us."

Molly was still looking down so he added: "Why don't you start by telling me about you and Smurf?"

Molly blinked. His words made sense, but he was obviously irritated. Why did she always feel defensive with him?

"We met in Purbright. I was getting trashed with some RAMC mates when he hit on me. He'd been to a match and was well tanked. One thing led to another and we... shagged that night..."

Charles' eyebrows rose as Molly skidded over the details of that night but he said nothing. He always knew there had been something between them. Drunken sex was about as meaningless as it could get. But he shook his head in disbelief when she recounted the excruciating moment Smurf had declared – from his hospital bed in Bastian – that he was coming back to her at the FOB. What the fuck had Smurf been thinking of?

Charles was also unimpressed to hear of the private's blundering attempts to browbeat Molly into a relationship; pestering her with cups of tea on the roof of the shitter; lurking frequently in the medic's tent; not to mention his cringing attempts to hug her and hold her hand; and his crude assumptions during their R none of which Charles had known anything about.

"Trouble is," he acknowledged: "Smurf might have been a bloody pest but he was needy. He was always looking for attention and compliments. He needed reassurance. I think he'd always felt inferior to Geraint."

"Geraint's death was part of it," she agreed. "But Smurf was also giving. It was my first tour. He listened when I was anxious, covered me when I was targeted on patrol, and rescued me when my family squabbles derailed my R&R. He helped me make sense of my first tour, from the fear filled first days when I couldn't cut it, to the end when we were fragged and fucked up about the future. In that sense, he really was a mate."

She looked directly at him. "You couldn't really have helped me with those things, you were my Boss. It was easier to tell you I loved you," she smiled, "than it was to admit how scared I was, cos I was worried you'd have kicked me straight home."

He sat up indignantly: "I had a good reputation for listening to my men when they came to me. Although thinking about it, they had better timing than you."

Molly cringed remembering the tense moment she'd blurted out her feelings for him as he was sweeping the road for IEDs. But she wasn't going to give up her ground. "Boss, you started that tour determined to give me the bloody hardest time."

"That's because you'd missed six months of training with the rest of 2-section," he shot back. "You damn well needed to harden up and join the team if you were going to survive in Helmand. Face it Dawes. You were a _crow_."

"Yeah, I was," she admitted. "But I did think that bloody comment about my stilettos was a bit shit."

He grinned: "It was bloody unfair of me. But you pissed me off by turning up late and when you appeared one look at your gorgeous legs and I knew I was up shit's creek without a paddle."

"I'm sorry." He pulled her down on the bed and kissed her gently.

"You fancied me then?" Molly was surprised.

"Yes. Damn it! He growled as his finger curled round a strand of her hair. "You had me tied up in knots. Don't bloody remind me. It was hell."

" _Really_?"

"Yes. Those bloody shorts of yours were almost my undoing. You had me, and practically every man in the FOB drooling every time you wore them. Thankfully you didn't wear them that often. If you had, I'd have had to court martial them and send them back to Brize Norton in disgrace for endangering the mission."

His wicked smile was devastating.

"You're just exaggerating about everyone drooling."

"Well, I suppose Fingers might not have appreciated the view," he conceded.

"You knew about Fingers?"

"Of course. I made it my business to know my men. In fact, I often wondered whether there was something between him and Captain Azizi."

She rolled over onto her back and leant her head on a pillow. "Now you're telling me something I don't know! Fingers and Captain Azizi..." she wondered whether there was any truth to it.

He nudged her: "Anyway, back to Smurf."

"He thought he could persuade me into loving him." She cupped her head in her hands. "And he was bloody good at talking me into things. He had that Welsh gift of the blab..."

"Gab?" he offered.

"Gab? Yeah. That's it. I'd was laughing at one of his jokes one minute, and the next he was talking about putting me in a red dress and taking me to Vegas and before I could get out of that, he'd tied me up in knots with a bleeding marriage proposal – even though there was nothing romantic between us, ever. There were so many times I wanted to say no, but it was impossible to let him down or hurt him when our friendship had been built up around protecting each other from pain."

"I found it pissing hard to say an outright no. I always thought I could wriggle out of something more easily given a bit of time. I dunno, I guess its what my mum did every time dad came blundering home from work demanding she'd give him the rent money for the pub. Never worked of course. That's why mum's never got any money and dad's not got a job."

"And that's why I ended up with Smurf's ring round my neck, kissing you in that bunker before we went out on that bridge."

"Don't blame yourself," he said quietly. "There isn't a day when I don't wish I hadn't interrupted you and Smurf in that bloody back room."

She touched his fingers with the tips of her own: "Really?"

"Yes," he bit back looking down at their hands. "We were all tense, waiting for Badrai and I knew Smurf wanted to propose to you. Lads do funny things in these strained, expectant moments before a mission." He frowned: "Me too. Normally I'd be sweating bullets, choked that it would all go wrong, my men would get injured or die. But that day all I could think about was that I'd fucked up. Smurf was going to ask you to marry him and you were so pissed with me, you'd say 'yes'."

"Eventually I couldn't wait out next door any longer. I lost my cool! So I came in, angry with him for trying it on and even more furious with myself for not being able to let it go and focus on the mission. And when it all went wrong, all I could think was that I deserved to be shot because I'd put my interests before Smurf's and lost his trust. I'd sabotaged the team I'd spent so long building up. I couldn't do anything but blame myself."

"Guilt" Molly admitted weaving her fingers through his. "Guilt's one of the reasons I gave up on us because I couldn't get away that day. At first I thought I could hack it but after Smurf died I couldn't deal with the idea that the shooting might have contributed to his death. And there was no one I could talk to about it, because if I did, the truth would tumble out. You know, Candy killed us off, but we were already dying by then, we just didn't know it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to burden you with my troubles."

"They weren't just your troubles." His hand fell back motionless onto the bed. It seemed to part them. "I was going through the same thing?"

"I didn't notice you telling me! Molly objected."

There was a silence as they realised they were getting nowhere.

"Does it all matter so much, now?" Charles asked, quietly.

"Smurf's death will always matter. But I've given up wondering if I was – we were – responsible. It was caused by a bleed in his head. That's the luck of the game."

"We're in the hands of the Gods, Dawes."

"And I never regretted, for one second, you coming into that room or the moment you kissed me. In the last three years I've never found anyone I loved, or wanted to be with, as much as you."

"Really," Charles rolled over. He looked absurdly happy.

"Yes," she gave him a brilliant smile. "I mean most men are total wankers. I dunno how you avoided becoming one of them."

"Oh, thanks," he started to laugh. "So I'm just a halfway wanker am I?

Molly nodded feigning resignation.

"Perhaps you haven't looked hard enough for 'a good'un'," he said, recalling her Nan's cockney.

"Believe me," she giggled, "I've had a pretty good look around."

"I bloody bet you have. How many of your other COs have you compromised Dawes?"

"None, after you, thanks. It's too bleeding complicated."

He grinned: "You preferred shagging squaddies then?"

"No – I gave up on them a long time ago. I went out with an army doctor."

The laughter died out his face: "Who?" he demanded.

She couldn't bear the rebuke in his eyes. She felt like she'd betrayed him: "Jonathan Stifnel. He was a captain stationed in Africa at the same time as me but with a different unit. It was him who encouraged me to complete my education and study medicine."

Charles tensed. He had no idea who this Captain was but he absolutely hated the idea of her with someone else. It was pure pain to ask, but he couldn't stop himself: "What happened?"

"He'd had enough excitement in his life. He wanted to settle down." She added quietly: "He's an emergency consultant in Cheltenham now."

Not bloody far enough away from Bristol, Charles thought darkly. "Did he ask you to settle down with him?"

"Well, yeah. But I'm not ready to settle down yet. I'm still studying. And what about you?"

He felt the ambivalence in her reply and he wondered whether she was repeating the excuse she gave this doctor or whether she really wasn't ready. She had another three years before she finished her medical degree. And then she would want to work. He shifted slightly onto his back, his head on the pillow looking towards the ceiling: "The UN's not good for relationships. It's all travel and long hours. There have been other women... but I never had the time to develop those relationships into anything more serious."

She smiled away the pain she felt at his reply, trying instead to recreate their earlier camaraderie: "As you were bloody kind enough to tell me."

"When?" he was still detached.

"In the guard room in Kabul."

He thought back to the conversation. "How ungallant of me."

She smiled softly: "Yeah! What a prick."

He nodded: "That's a pretty reasonable description of me on that day." He turned his head to look at her: "Now what about you?" He couldn't stop himself from asking but somehow it seemed to matter: "Were you still going out with Dr Stifnel when we 'met' in Kabul?"

Molly interrupted: "No. It was a good relationship, but it didn't last beyond our African posting. And were you with anyone then, in Kabul?"

He shook his head. Relief lightened his chest. They hadn't finished talking yet, but he was damned if he was going to spend the rest of the evening talking about the past. For now he just wanted to get away from it and enjoy his time with Molly. They could come back to Candy later. He leaned down and kissed her collarbone feeling her tremble as his lips touched the thin fabric of her dress.

He looked straight at her: "None of the women came even close."

"Close to what?"

"You," he whispered as he kissed her on the lips and caressed the exposed skin of her breasts.

"So about this red dress then..." Charles dropped a kiss between her breasts.

Molly tensed: "What about it?"

He asked sheepishly: "What was it like?"

"It was short and sleeveless and a bit see through with a beaded neckline and a gaping hole here, I mean, it was a bit like a nightdress, to be honest.

"Mmm," He murmured, as his fingers explored under her dress, investigating the skin of her thigh. He looked up: "A gaping hole here? With his other hand he stroked a smooth line down between her breasts. "Bright red, see-through?"

He leaned down to kiss the spot he had just grazed on her inner thigh. "Was it... sexy?" He smiled straight into her eyes, and she could feel the warm breath of his words on the skin he had just kissed.

She grinned with relief. "You want me to wear it for you! Out of luck mate. It was too trashy for me. I gave it to a friend."

"Pity." He dipped his head between her thighs again and dropped a quick, teasing kiss right on her lips, causing her to moan in pleasure at the feel of his mouth through her dress.

"When we were at the FOB I used to imagine you wearing all this gorgeous sexy stuff underneath your combats. Christ Molly it was almost my undoing!" He paused just for a moment and then added with a grin. "Don't upset me now by telling me you wore sensible pants. I'll be a disappointed man forever!"

"Actually in those days I used to wear G strings in lace, with matching lacy bras," Molly teased, deciding not to mention the granny pants she'd worn on her first tour.

"You're teasing me now Molly Dawes. Tell me more..." He laid his head on her stomach to listen, a knowing smile on his face.

"I loved how the soft feel of the lace contrasted against the rough cotton canvas of my combats on my bottom." It wasn't a total lie. By the second tour she'd cottoned onto the secret joy of sexy briefs under her combats.

He was curious: "What colour?"

She thought for a moment: "My favourite was..."

"White?" he interrupted hopefully.

"Ooh you like the idea of me in white, virginal undies?"

He grinned: "Virginal is hardly the word that comes to mind, after your, err, enthusiastic performances in the past Dawes."

"What a disappointment I must be!"

"Not to me!" he grinned.

He threaded his fingers through hers and pulled her off the bed and into the bathroom. He placed her in front of the sink and turned her to the big mirror above it. He stood behind her in his combats, the warm skin of his bare chest brushing against her.

"How about these?" He handed her a fancy looking black shopping bag with pink ribbon handles.

She peeked in the bag. Inside was a beautiful set of undies, a pair of briefs in the thinnest white lace and a matching under wired bra with delicate white lace straps.

"Will you wear it?" he breathed as he met her eyes in the mirror.

"They're beautiful," she whispered.

"Like you." He dropped a kiss into the sensitive hollow of her neck.

He unzipped her dress and lifted it over her shoulders. Pulling off her pants she stepped into the white lace briefs and slid them up her thighs. They were a perfect fit. Behind her she could feel Charles harden as he watched her remove her bra and slip the new straps over her shoulders.

"Can you do up the back please?"

He tensed slightly as he fumbled with the catch.

She smiled remembering her Nan's advice: _"Don't trust a man too familiar with your undies. He'll have had too much practice taking them off."_

Then he'd done it and she stood slightly shy as he drank in the sight of her.

"Perhaps lots of men have given you sexy things to wear."

"Why do you say that?"

"You don't seem surprised. Or did you see me buy them from that little pop up shop at the airport?"

She stretched her arms up and looped them round the back of his neck. "Thank you. No one's ever bought me undies, except my mum and they were yellow with days of the week on them." She giggled.

"Days of the week huh?"

"Yeah, no jokes about ' _see you on Tuesday_ ' okay."

"See you on Tuesday?" Charles frowned.

"You don't know do you?" Molly giggled. "Oh, never mind! These are beautiful and they feel amazing – so soft."

"Are they?" Charles smiled as he slipped a finger underneath the lace edge of her pants.

She met his eyes in the mirror as he finger found her sensitive centre and tapped it firmly.

"Do you want me to take them off?" she murmured.

"No," he breathed as he licked the lobe of her ear. "I want to seduce you with them on."

His finger tapped her clit again, starting up a pulse of pleasure between her legs. She leaned against him, capitulating to a delicious thread that was spiralling through her.

Looping his other arm round her waist he drew her close and she felt him hardening through the thick cotton of his combats.

"Open your eyes," he whispered as he dropped a kiss on the side of her neck. "And look at yourself. Look in the mirror."

He watched her eyelids flutter. He saw her focus on the sight of his hand in her pants and he knew from her blissful smile and half closed eyelids that the throbbing beat of his finger was almost intoxicating.

He stroked another finger into her damp opening and her eyes opened wide with shock and pleasure as he grinned back at her. She squirmed as the feeling intensified and twisted round to face him. "Please," she panted: "I want to feel you... this" bewitchingly she traced the outline of his cock with her finger: "inside me."

Somehow she managed to undo his fly. She pulled out his swollen cock and ran her hand along its hard length. "I need it here," she explained pushing it between her legs, sliding the top inside the lace of her pants and nudging it within her lips.

Charles was still for a moment, but the tease of knicker lace and the creamy wetness just inside her lips was his undoing. Unable to bear it any longer, he impatiently pulled her pants down, lifted Molly up onto the edge of the sink and deftly parted her legs. Within seconds his cock was nudging her opening. Molly caught her breath as he slid into her slowly and when he was fully in he wrapped his arms round her and pulled her towards him.

"I love this," he breathed, "the utter... feeling of being inside you... It's... fucking way too... sexy." He laughed on a breath, so aroused he could hardly find the words.

She stretched her arms around his neck and reached up to kiss him, feeling the impassioned beat of his heart against his warm chest, and the answering involuntary twitch of his cock inside her. It was this closeness she relished.

He thrust into her and looked down at their coupling. Then he noticed her breasts, still in their lacy bra, lifted by her arms draped around his neck. He twirled a nipple between his fingers captivated by the way it shaped into a point under his touch: "Beautiful, show me..." he murmured with a smile as he cupped her buttock with his hands and thrust into her again.

Molly leaned back, her bottom secure in his hands and un-looped her shoulder strap to reveal the breast. Securing her position by looping her legs around his waist she discovered she could tighten her muscles around him more firmly. She watched him lean down to lick her exposed nipple and then she tightened feeling the answering lurch of his cock inside her.

"God," he breathed wildly against her nipple. "So damn tight... fucking lovely." He thrust again and waited expectant, as she tensed again and he groaned, enraptured. It was sweet and slow, this thrust and tighten rhythm that threatened to drive him over the edge, until he could no longer take the sultry torture.

He took over with ever strengthening thrusts driving him on till he shuddered uncontrollably into a powerful release, murmuring her name, his lips moving feverishly over her nipple.

Molly waited for him, her hands threading through his hair as his whispers echoed across her hot breast. For a moment he was still and then with his cock still quivering inside, she felt his hand turn on the tap behind her. He scooped cold water from the tap and splashed it on her hot nipples. For a moment the extreme coldness shocked her as drops rolled down from her hardened nipples across her stomach and between her legs.

She gasped. The cool water felt so sexy against her clit. He filled his hands again and they both watched the water drip down her body together:

"Feels good?"

"Chilling... and... sexy," she gasped watching the interest on his face as he scooped up another handful.

This time he emptied it straight onto her lips. The cold shock was delicious and she moaned as his thumb swept over her clit. Within seconds she was on the edge of ecstasy.

"More water?" he demanded, softly as his finger stilled on her clit.

"Oh God... Yes." Icy water dribbled over her lips as she shuddered into orgasm. And then she felt his mouth on hers; wildly kissing her.

For minutes afterwards, they stayed locked together, Molly sitting on the sink, Charles standing in front of her.

"I love you," he whispered.

She opened her eyes: "You do?"

"Yes," he answered lifting a damp lock of her hair out of his face.

"Well we happen to be in luck then," she teased.

He smiled: "Why?"

"Because I'm in totally, desperately, happily in love with you too."

"Head over heels?" he wondered.

"Arse over tit mate," she confirmed.

They laughed on a breath and kissed again.

It was hot in the small bathroom. They were both covered with a fine sheen of sweat and Molly realised she was starving.

"I'm ravenous, can we find something to eat?"

"Let's eat out."

She raised her eyebrows at the innuendo. "Mmm"

"Get into that shower." He grinned and drew a finger down between her lips. "Or I might have to start playing with you again."

"Ooh, multiple orgasms? I'm in for a treat!" giggled Molly as she jumped off the sink and turned on the shower.

He laughed and started washing his cock in the sink. From the shower she watched him dry it on a small hand towel and zip himself back into his combats.

"Dinner without your Adams, huh?"

He glanced over and grinned. "Excite you?"

"Too right!"

"Then join me? He challenged."

She shook her head: "Well for one thing, I'm not going to give up the chance of wearing the new underwear you bought me. And for the other, my dress is a bit _too_ short for that kind of caper."

He just smiled, leaning against the sink watching her wash between her legs: "One of these days Dawes, you could give me the pleasure of playing with yourself... Just for me."

"Will that be an order, Sir?" she asked coquettishly.

He grinned: "You bet."

* * *

A/n Another long chapter that has taken a long time to update. Apologies and a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved and followed since the last chapter and also to everyone who PMd me - which boosted my flagging morale considerably - thank you. I normally try to reply before loading another chapter, but this time I haven't managed to, so I will do so shortly.

Charles and Molly are discovering a new, naughtier side to each other these days, I hope you enjoyed it. I had some fun writing it! More wickedness to come in the next chapter, which will also be over here, on the fun (smutty, dark) side!


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